Overdue indicator for coin-operated storage lockers



' Aug. 20, 1957 2,803,213

OVERDUE INDICATOR FOR COIN-OPERATEO STORAGE LOOKERS J. A. sMrrH Filed sept. e, 1955 FIG. 4

FIG. 3

INVENTOR. JOSEPH AUSTIN SMITH bmcem United States Patent O OVERDUE INDICATOR FOR COIN-OPERATED STORAGE LOCKERS This invention relates to coin-operated storage lockers, and, more-particularly, is concerned with mechanism for indicating various stages of overdue in relation to such lockers.

- Heretofore,'in the operation of coin-controlled storageA lockers, it has been the standard practice to have a service man check each locker at the end of each day, or at the endof each 24 hour period to determine if baggage or other articles have been stored in the lockerfor longer than the prepaid 24 hour period. This is quite a laborious and time-consuming procedure. The service man must examine the Veeder counter on each and every locker and then compare the counter number with the number he has marked down for the same locker 24 hours before.

' The same check must be made of each and every locker the following day, and every day 'of the month and year. It is the general object of my invention to overcome and avoid the difliculties of and the time consuming objections to the procedure of the prior art by the provision ofa simplified, inexpensive, easily operated overdue indicator for storage lockers.

,Another object of my invention is to provide an overdue indicator which will visually and by color indicate the number of days storage is overdue and which will make it" necessary only to examine the relatively few lockers which have no keys in them and not to have to examine' ea'ch and every locker whether keys are in the lockers or not.

'Another object of my invention is the provision of an overdue indicator for coin-operated storage lockers in which the work of checking lockers by a service man is greatly lessened and expedited.

c Another object of my invention is to provide an overdue-indicator of the character described and constituting a` minimum of stamped metal parts adapted to give years of maintenance free operation, yet operating accurately to indicate overdue lockers.

The foregoing objects ofthe invention, and others which will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, are achieved by the provision of an overdue indicator including a casing, means for mounting the casing in association with a locker door, and particularly the hinge side of a locker door, a disc rotatably mounted in the casing, means tendingto rotate the disc to a zero position, a bar slidably carried 4in'the ycasing and adapted to move towards and frm the' disc, and spring means carried lby the bar and adapted', to` frictionally'engage the disc when the bar is moved towards the disc, the bar extending from the casing in a position to be engaged by the door jamb and moved towards the disc.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the overdue indicator ofl the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the ICE indicator of Figs. l and 2 incorporated with door and door jamb members of a locker;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a key adapted to be removably associated with the overdue indicator;

Fig. 5 is a view from the top of the assembly shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the door member of the locker swung partially open.

Having particular reference to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates generally a box-like casing made of stamped sheet metal and including lips 12 bent at right angles to the casing and provided with tapped holes 14 for facilitating attachment of the casing to a door member or to a door jamb member.

Rotatably mounted in the casing 10 is a disc 15 having its front face divided into segmented sections of different colors, Afor example, an area 16 of black, an area 18 of white, an area 20 of red, and an area 22 of yellow. The disc 15 is secured to a hollow shaft 24 journalled at 26 in a hole in the casing, androtatably supported `also by bracket 28 extending downwardly from the top of the casing 10'. A pair of washers 30 may surround the shaft 24 on each side of the bracket 28, and a Cotter pin 32 holds the shaft 24 in position on the bracket 28.

The disc 15 is provided with means for returning it to zero i. e., not-overdue position and these means include a weight 34 of half circle shape secured to the disc 15, and normally holding the disc 15 in substantially the position shown in Fig. l. Actually the disc 15 is illustrated in the drawings asbeing made in the form of thin discs 15a between which is secured the weight .34.

Slidably received in the casing 1 0 is a at bar 40the casing being appropriately slotted to receive andrslidably mount4 the bar. v One end of the bar 40 extends outwardly a distance from the casing 10, and is notched at 42 to provide a linger-like extension at the side of the casing 10.

The bar 40 Vis resiliently held in the position shown in Fig..

1 by spring means 44, one end of which is secured by a screw 46 to the bar 40, and the other end of which can' be secured, as by a screw 48, to the casing.

It will be notedthat an arcuate portion of the spring 44 is spaced closely adjacent theperiphery of the disc 15, so that when the bar 40 is moved towards the disc, that is to the left in Fig. 1, the disc 15 will be engaged frictionally.

In the use of the overdue indicator, as described, reference should be had to Figs. 3 to 6 which illustrate that the casing 10 is secured to a door member 50 or a door jamb member 52. Preferably the casing 10 is secured to the door member 50 by screws 54 Vwhich extend through the front of the door into the tapped holes 14 of the casing. Usually, theca'sing 10 is mounted lon the door mem-` ber 50 adjacent the hinged side of the door, a typical hinge being indicated by the'numeral 56. The front of the door is formed with an observation hole or window 58 adjacent the disc 15 and through which the'particular color can be i observed `which indicates the'rotary position of the disc.

A hol-e 60 aligned axially with the shaft 24 carrying the disc is likewise provided in thedoor member 50 so that a' key- 62, shown in Fig. 4, can be removably inserted through the' hole 60 int-o the hollow shaft 24 for the purpose of rotating the disc 15. The end of the key 62 is tapered as .at 64, for-engaging with the side of the cotterv key 32 whereby turning the key 62 from the outside of the door member 50 rotates the disc 15 to the desired arcuate position.

It will be seen that when the casing 10 is mounted in the position shown in Figs. 3, 5 and 6 that when the door member 50 is open, as seen in Fig. 6, the bar 40 moves away from the disc 15 under the action of the spring means 44 so that the disc 15 is not frictionally engaged and the disc, accordingly, rotates with the shaft 24 to bring the weight 34 on the disc to the lowermost arcuate position. Now, when the door member 50 is closed, to the position shown in Fig. 5, the bar 40 is engaged by the door jamb member 52, and the bar mem-ber moves towards the left in the several igures shown, i. e., towards the disc to frictionally engage the spring means 44 with the periphery of the disc to hold it against rotation, and to hold it in any position to which it is turned by the key 62.

In the operation ofthe overdue indicator of the invention, and as illustrated and described, the customer using the storage locker will open the door member 50, place his luggage or the like in the locker and will close the door member and lock it after depositing the necessary metal coin or coins to allow him to lock the locker` and remove the key. Now an operator will visually inspect the rows of closed lockers at the end of the day looking only for lockers in which no keys are in the lock. On every locker from which the normal locker key has been removed, the operator will introduce key 62 through hole 60 and turn the disc so that instead of having the black portion 16 visible through the observation hole 58, a white portion 18 will be visible. The disc 15 can be turned by the key 62 against the frictional drag of the spring 44 engaging with it, but once the disc 15 is turned so that the white surface 18 will show through the observation hole S8, the spring 44 holds the disc in this position. It will be understood that the spring 44 engages with the periphery of the disc frictionally because the bar 40 has been moved towards the disc 15 when the locker door was closed.

If the customer returns and gets his baggage within the next 24 hours, he can normally do so with his regular locker key, and when he opens the door member 50, the bar 40 moves away from the disc 15 under the action of the spring 44 whereupon the disc member 15 automatically resets itselt to zero, i. e., not-overdue position.

But, should the customer not return and get his luggage within the following 24 hours, then the next time that the service man checks the lockers, he will take his key 62, again insert it through hole 60 and rotate disc 15 to bring the red portion 20 of the disc 15 opposite the observation hole 5S indicating that the storage is overdue for two days. If the customer has not returned at the end of a 48-hour period, the service man visually inspecting the fronts of the lockers will advance the disc 15 with key 62 to bring the yellow portion 22 of the disc opposite the observation hole 58. This means that still another days locker rental is due on the customers luggage. Thus, with my improved overdue indicator up to three or more days overdue can be indicated.

Service men or locker operators have various ways to handle an overdue locker. Some of them remove the luggage from an overdue locker at the end of the prepaid time and immediately restore the locker to service by installing a new lock. in other cases, the luggage is removed ancl a new lock installed only after two or three days overdue. Still again, a storage due plug may be inserted in the overdue locker, and the luggage not removed, so that the customer cannot get his luggage until the overdue storage has been paid.

From the foregoing it will be recognized that the objects of my invention have been achieved. No attention need be paid to lockers which have keys in the locks. A quick glance by a service man down the locker line will reveal the lockers without keys. Only these lockers are given attention. The reading usually is done at midnight, or other slack period. As a result only a few of the lockers are without keys. Ten percent is a high average. Thus, the work is immediately cut to approximately 10% of the lockers, as distinguished from the present method of doing something with reference to every locker whether there is or is not a key in the lock.

The colors indicated on the disc 15 are merely representative of different colors and the number thereof that may be selected.

While in accord with patent statutes, at least one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that this is by way of example only, and that the scope oi the invention is defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. An overdue indicator for use with a storage locker having a tirst member and a second member hinged to each other for movement from closing to opening position. said indicator comprising an enclosure adapted to be secured to the inner side of the iirst member, a bar slidably mounted for movement through said enclosure in a direction normal to the axis of thehinged connection between the irst member and the second member, one end Aof said bar being engageable by the second member for movvi ing the bar in one direction during closing movement between the rst member and the second member, a barmoving spring having an end secured to said enclosure.

and the other end engaging said bar for urging said bar in the opposite direction upon opening movement between the iirst member and the second member, a hollow spindle journailed in said enclosure with one end of the spindle exposed through a rst small opening of the first member yon which said enclosure is mounted, an indicator disc xed to said spindle, said disc having indicating indicia thereon viewable through an observation opening in the rst member carrying said enclosure, means normally positioning the disc in one position of rotation, spring brake means on said bar having a portion frictionally engaging the periphery of said disc in the closed position between the first member and the second member to oppose rotation of the disc, and key means insertable through said rst small opening into the bore of said hollow spindle, interlocking means on the key means and hollow spindle so that rotation of the key means rotates the disc against the rictional drag of said spring brake to set the indicator disc from the outside of the locker.

2. An overdue indicator as defined by claim 1 in which said hollow spindle has a smooth cylindrical bore, -with means comprising a partial obstruction of said bore ata position remote from the face of the locker for engaging a non-cylindrical end of a key for setting said disc.

3. An overdue indicator as defined by claim 1 in which the spring brake means on said bar is integral with said bar moving spring.

4. An overdue indicator as defined by claim 1 in whichV the means normally positioning the disc in one position is a weight spaced radially of said hollow spindle and secured to said disc.

References Cited in the tile of this patent Jackson Ian. 4, 1938 

